ST. PETERSBURG -- You can’t script baseball any better than you can predict it. But with the Rays, you can seemingly always count on a few things: They’re going to find ways to win more often than not, and everyone’s going to play a part.
So it was again on Tampa Bay’s 25th Opening Day on Friday afternoon at Tropicana Field, where the Rays scratched and clawed and pitched their way to a 2-1 win over the Orioles. Both runs came on sacrifice flies, marking the first time in franchise history Tampa Bay won when scoring multiple runs all on sac flies. The Rays sent seven pitchers to the mound, from Shane McClanahan getting 13 outs to Brooks Raley nailing down the last one. They used 12 of their 13 position players, and their two biggest at-bats came off the bench.
“That's us,” manager Kevin Cash said. “We're going to utilize the roster. We're going to utilize the entire pitching staff. They all pitch in whatever role is asked. The approach, the buy-in that we get, the support from all of them … incredible group of guys that understand we're doing everything we can to win.”
Here are five ways the Rays won on Opening Day before a sellout crowd of 25,025.
1. Francisco Mejía came through again
Mejía developed a reputation for coming through in big situations last season, delivering nine go-ahead hits and hitting .313 with runners in scoring position in his first year with the Rays.
“On this team, you know you’ve got to be ready at any time,” Mejía said. “With the experience I've had here, you’ve got to be ready to go off the bench.”
He delivered another big at-bat with the score tied at 1, the bases loaded and one out in the eighth on Friday. Cash summoned the switch-hitting Mejía to pinch-hit for All-Star catcher Mike Zunino, gaining the platoon advantage on right-hander Jorge López and counting on Mejía’s knack for making contact.
On cue, Mejía lofted an 0-1 slider deep enough to left-center field to drive in the go-ahead run.
“We needed something put in play right there, felt like he was the right guy,” Cash said. “And he really came through for us.”
2. To rally, they found ways to get on base
Still, Mejía’s sac fly probably wasn’t even the biggest at-bat of the inning. That belonged to Ji-Man Choi, who pinch-hit for Harold Ramírez and grinded through an eight-pitch walk against López. Cash called it the inning’s turning point, noting that Choi’s walk “really flipped the leverage for us in that inning.”
“It seemed like it was a 15-minute at-bat,” said McClanahan, who watched it unfold from the clubhouse. “I was on the table getting treatment, and I kept looking up, like, 'Oh, man, Ji-Man's still up.' So it was a really good at-bat. I think that set the tone for the inning.”
That brought up Randy Arozarena, who tapped a grounder to third base then flew down the line to leg out an infield single. Cash and McClanahan both brought up Arozarena’s hustle afterward, finding it especially noteworthy in the first game of the season.
“It's so refreshing to know that these guys, when they need to turn it on, they know how to turn it on and play the game the right way,” Cash said. “Harold busted it down the line. Randy does it every time. We're fortunate to have a group of guys that does that.”
3. McClanahan got his groove back
McClanahan’s first pitch, a 97.1 mph fastball, sailed into Cedric Mullins’ right shoulder. It was the first time a pitcher hit a batter with the team’s first pitch of the season since A’s starter Rich Hill plunked White Sox outfielder Adam Eaton on April 4, 2016.
The 24-year-old’s reaction on the mound was, as he put it, “not safe for TV.”
It took a bit longer for the overly amped McClanahan to settle into his first Opening Day assignment, as he wiggled out of a bases-loaded jam in the first inning. But he found his rhythm and flashed dominant stuff, including a fastball that topped out at 100.5 mph and a curveball that finished five of his seven strikeouts, over 4 1/3 scoreless innings.
“It's Opening Day. You want to do the best of your ability,” McClanahan said. “Once I just got comfortable out there, I felt the mound, felt the tempo of the game and just kind of settled in.”
4. No surprise, the bullpen did its job
Matt Wisler allowed a solo homer to Anthony Santander in the sixth inning. But he combined with JT Chargois, Jeffrey Springs, Andrew Kittredge, J.P. Feyereisen and Raley to allow only three hits and one walk while striking out seven over 4 2/3 innings.
After an abbreviated Spring Training, the Rays will be cautious with starters’ workloads this month. But their bullpen seems up to the task.
“They were just incredible,” Cash said.
5. Wander did something new, even for him
Wander Franco’s first Opening Day didn’t disappoint, as he went 3-for-4 and made some smooth plays at shortstop. He became the Rays’ youngest player with three hits or more on Opening Day and the youngest in the Majors to do so since the Cubs’ Starlin Castro (21 years, 8 days) on April 1, 2011.
“He's good,” McClanahan said, smiling. “He's pretty good.”
Franco started the Rays’ go-ahead rally in the eighth by smashing a leadoff single to right field with an exit velocity of 109.7 mph, the hardest-hit ball of his young career. Last season, he recorded only three batted balls of 109 mph, and his hardest-hit base hit registered at 108.8 mph. As if anybody needed another reason to be intrigued by Tampa Bay’s 21-year-old star.
“I was able to make the adjustment, and at the time, that was something we needed,” Franco said through interpreter Manny Navarro. “Luckily, we got the victory out of it.”